The Coronado: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

The Coronado has served the Coronado Historic District in central Phoenix since 2015, and it didn’t start out vegan. The kitchen went fully plant-based in December 2020, then moved a few blocks to its current address, 2245 N 12th St, in July 2021. Everything on the menu now is made from scratch daily, with no meat, dairy, or eggs anywhere in the building.

Order the cauliflower tacos. They show up in nearly every review as the dish people remember: breaded, fried cauliflower standing in for the usual chicken or fish, dressed and built like a real taco instead of a diet substitute. Fried guacamole and potato tacos round out the rest of the small-plates menu, and weekend brunch, Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., adds a rotating set of specials on top of the regular lineup. The kitchen also marks gluten-free options directly on the menu, a real help if you’re eating around two restrictions at once.

This is a bar as much as it’s a kitchen. Locally sourced beer, wine, and craft cocktails sit on the same menu as brown sugar lemonade, blackberry lemonade, and locally roasted coffee, so it works as a coffee stop in the morning and a cocktail spot at night without changing character. The dog-friendly patio backs that up. This is a place built for people who want to sit outside for a while, not just grab food and go, and it shows in a name that comes straight from the neighborhood around it rather than a marketing meeting.

Since the whole kitchen went vegan in 2020, there’s no meat station to keep separate from the plant-based line, and cross-contamination isn’t a real concern. Every plate that leaves that kitchen is built the same way, and the restaurant has picked up recognition for it, including a Best Vegan Restaurant honor from Phoenix New Times and more than 1,050 Yelp reviews at its current address alone.

Hours are short and worth checking before you go. Closed Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Price runs $$, with some individual plates, like a plant-based burger, landing closer to $17. That short week reflects a business that’s been through a real scare. In December 2022, local news covered The Coronado’s fight to stay open, a neighborhood restaurant pushing for enough business to survive the slow season. It made it through. Years later, it’s still serving the same neighborhood that almost lost it.

That history is worth knowing before you go. This isn’t a chain that can absorb a bad month or a slow quarter, and there’s no second Coronado anywhere else in the Valley to fall back on. It’s a small, independent, fully vegan kitchen in a historic Phoenix neighborhood, and every order is a small vote for keeping it that way. Go for brunch, order the cauliflower tacos, and tip well.